Written by Sharon Gosling
An Adventure Book Review by Erin the Literary Cat©, International Book Reviewer.
Hello, and welcome to my latest Book Review featuring this an amazing adult contemporary fiction light romance and adventure by one of the UK's best (and one of my fav's too) novelists.
Without further ado, and with my trusty housekeeper, Mrs H, planning a writing trip to Northumberland as we speak, let's get on with the review.......
AUTHOR: SHARON GOSLING
Illustrations by: N/A at this time
Published by: SIMON & SCHUSTER LTD UK
Publication date Paperback: 27 AUG 2026
Paperback 13 digit ISBN: 978 1398 538 917
UK Cover price for Paperback: £9.99
Amazon KINDLE price: £6.99
Audible price: Listed as 1 credit
Pages: Listed as 400 on Amazon for paperback at this time.
Age range: Adult
Any dogs or cats? Wait and find out! 😉
SPOILER ALERT
Some as to plot direction and characters.
Thank you to...
We are exceedingly grateful to Simon & Schuster for contacting us to see if we wished to review. OF COURSE! was our reply, as I have not read a bad book by Sharon, be it adult or kids fiction.
As ever, our views are our own, and we only share reviews of books we have bought, received as gifts, or received in exchange for an impartial review.
First and foremost, the books we review are those we select to read, like, and feel our global readers deserve to know about and will enjoy.
The plot
Helen Thorne, writer, has gained fame for writing a book called ‘All of the Above’, described in the press as the new feminist bible. During a girls’ get-together to announce and celebrate the making of the movie of Helen’s book, she gets a text. It is the inciting incident for everything that follows and sets a tone that runs through till the end.
The text is from a past lover, a married man who ten years earlier, when Helen was just young and naive, had led her on into the affair with his oh-so-charming ways, and promises–all unkept. The affair ended painfully, but the man seemingly jokingly said he’d want part of her fame should things go well. Now he is back for his share; blackmailing her by threatening to expose the romance, making her the villain of the piece. The other lady involved is one of the country’s most loved actresses.
Things turn nasty when Helen’s friend tells him to get lost via text. The next day, hung over and sleepy, she discovers that he has exposed her sins and the movie deal is off. In fact, her career, all she seemed to have stood for in her novel, appears to be nothing more than hypocrisy and lies.
She needs to escape the inevitable pack of bad-news hunting journalists out for salacious details, and ready to paint her the villain of the trio.
Her mother, a solicitor, offers her a lifeline. One of her firm’s clients, a reclusive book fanatic, Cyril Gissing, has died. He lived on a remote Northumberland island called Rathbrooke. With no internet and no mobile phone signal, it offers the perfect place to hide out until matters quieten down.
As to what Helen will do there, her mother advises that she needs to find Cyril’s will as well as catalogue his collection of valuable books. After all, she has a Master’s degree in that area.
Helen arrives on the island one stormy night, guided through a most treacherous storm by Rufus; handyman and gardener on the island who lives in the now unused lighthouse near its harbour.
The ten-hectare island is being battered by the storm, but soon she is safely within its thick stone wall building. Fed and watered by Mr Gissing’s housekeeper, Martha Darling, she is shown her rooms and rests for the night in front of the roaring fire, but with no electricity. But as she tries to settle, she hears a child’s footsteps running through the dark and hulking building.
Later the next day she gets to meet Cora, Martha’s sullen daughter (of indeterminate age, possibly pre-teen) from an abusive marriage that she managed to escape from–not unlike the situation Helen finds herself in. When asked about the sounds of children, she is told there is nobody else on the island.
It is clear from conversations with Martha and Rufus that they are all very worried about what will become of them if no will is found. For Cora, who loved Cyril and his work, things seem particularly hard-hitting. She runs the large, ornate greenhouse that helps feed them as well as helping with the rare breed sheep peculiar to the island that bring in funds when sold on the mainland.
But as Helen digs deeper through the books in search of the elusive will, she discovers some of Cyril’s notes, as well as letters received over many years from someone called Thiago Montera. Cyril was clearly obsessed with something, but what she is reading seems to be in some code. Pursuit of the will takes second place as Helen tries to solve this new mystery.
Cora is no help, even though she knew the old man better than anyone and had his trust. In fact, she manifests a lot of animosity towards Helen, as though she is to blame for the collapse of their onetime idyllic life and all the recent woes, including Cyril’s death. What secrets she holds, secrets only she and Cyril shared, she is determined not to let go of.
One rainy night, a stranger arrives in another storm. Like an elegant storm-washed pirate, Thiago Montera arrives and bangs the building’s massive doors to be let in. It turns out, as we the readers have already been privy to by side notes in the story, Thiago is a longtime friend and book hunter for Cyril, and seeks out rare and forgotten tomes for his collection. Driven by not hearing from his friend for too long, he has sailed his own boat to the island from afar.
With no means of validation if this man is the same as the one Helen had found in correspondence in Cyril’s library, can she trust him? Soon, his passion for books is clear, and Helen becomes trusting of his good intent. The search for the will goes on, but threads of information about Cyril’s obsession lead to fresh revelations and discoveries about something very important, rare, and extremely valuable. Something that could change the whole situation of the island and its inhabitants.
The twists and turns that take place from this point, the values that we place on trust, who we trust and why we do what we do, ramp up the suspense to storm pitch and ferocity and get thoroughly shaken, much like the burgeoning love that Helen feels sparks of for Thiago. There are lies told, half truths and crimes yet to unfold, like the very best of a stormy Hitchcock movie. Be prepared for a roller coaster finally that delivers 110% on all storm-washed levels.
So, what did we think?
Gosh and golly. This really did capture the imagination and kept us turning pages. The passion in the scene-setting – so natural and light a touch that clearly belies the effort, skill, and patience to create such an atmospheric read. A locked-island mystery? Well, this very nearly is, save for a few forays to the mainland. There are plenty of locked doors and secrets to be revealed, not least being a particular Mulberry Tree that lives sheltered in the middle of the enclosed grounds. It would be too big a spoiler to give away what Cyril and Thiago were communicating on, his passion, so I won’t, but it too is woven into the story from centuries past to present and, dare I say, into the future.
We have little injections of correspondence from various characters throughout the book, which add an extra dimension and little plot clues and twists. We initially, like the stormy and dramatic prologue that ably sets the island and North Sea for what they can be, wondered what was going on. But soon things became clear.
As to the ending, well, I was very happy. More than that, I dare not say, as it was a cliffhanger to the final few pages.
So, Crunch time.
A refreshing, very readable tale, filled with tangible heart, passion, and adventure, from an author who loves books and writing. A perfect summer read for any time of the year.
Sharon Gosling's web site is currently expired, but you can follow her and her delightful cat, Newt, on Instagram. Newt is such a nice girl, and full of her own human ways and antics. Sharon's (and Newt's) lovely Instagram page (elements of her gardening, crafting, writing, life) can be found HERE OR type this:- https://www.instagram.com/sharongoslingauthor/
Simon & Schuster's UK's web page can be found HERE. OR type this:- https://www.simonandschuster.com/
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And now for the selfie, which is what makes Sunday special and why the globe and and its worries shrink that little bit more because of the friendship, kindness and respect we sentient beings show to each other . . .
Caught napping?! A rare event, Mrs H said, though I swear she had crossed fingers behind her back when she did.
My reply was that I was just dreaming thinking of what sort of prince I wanted to whisk me away in my next adventure . . .
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We are joining the Sunday Selfies, hosted by the wonderful Kitties Blue and their mum, Janet Blue, from the Cat on My Head blog in America. Click this sentence to visit Janet Blue's site. Or copy and paste this link: https://thecatonmyhead.com/
I hope you enjoyed that book review and our selfie. If you get to read this, and we hope you do, please let us know your thoughts. 🙂
Till laters!
ERin
